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Tax Insights – December 2019 Year-End Tax Planning As the year ends, you may be wondering what you can do to lower your taxes on your 2019 return. If you have cash on hand, there are several things that you can do to help your tax position in the new year and beyond. 1. Charitable… Read more

Health Reimbursement Arrangement Your employer may offer a benefit called a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA). An HRA is a benefit whereby your employer will set aside funds to reimburse health care costs for you. This eases some of the paperwork burden on the employer and provides you just the right amount of health care benefit…. Read more

Selling Your House Selling your home and moving to a new one is an enormous undertaking. While you’re excited about your new home, there are many tasks to be completed. But what about the tax issues? Do you have to pay tax on any gain on the sale? Can you deduct a loss? The first… Read more

Tax Reform and Divorce The rules regarding alimony changed this year. If you were divorced in 2019, alimony is no longer taxable income to the recipient, and is no longer deductible by the payor. This could have a huge impact on your taxes. The good news is that if the divorce decree and property settlement… Read more

Gift Planning One way to transfer wealth to the next generation is to make gifts. Generally, donors pay gift tax unless they fit into an exception. The most frequently used exception is the annual exclusion. Taxpayers may give up to the annual exclusion to another individual tax free. In 2019, this amount is $15,000. For… Read more

Tax Benefit for the Disabled The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act of 2014 allows states to create tax-advantaged savings programs for eligible people with disabilities (designated beneficiaries). To establish an ABLE account, the beneficiary must be blind or disabled by age 26. The owner of the ABLE account is the beneficiary, and he… Read more

Mid-year Checkup As you reviewed your tax return this year, were you surprised by the results? Many people were shocked by their balance due. So many, in fact, that the IRS implemented some penalty relief. Two things affect your balance due or refund: withholding and estimated taxes. The IRS develops withholding tables to assist your… Read more

Estate Planning Checkup Benjamin Franklin paraphrased Christopher Bullock when he wrote, “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” Estate planning is the crossroads of those two things. Because of that, you may not want to think about it. But, if you set up your estate plan more than… Read more

Did You Get a Letter From the IRS? Once you’ve filed your return and received your refund, you’re done, right? Each year the IRS sends millions of letters and notices to taxpayers for a variety of reasons, such as: • There’s a balance due • The refund is incorrect • The IRS has a question… Read more

Retirement Distributions Retirement distributions are made for a variety of reasons. Depending on the facts, the result can be anywhere from a tax-free distribution to inclusion in income and additional penalties. How can you determine the likely result? Social security benefits are either non-taxable or partially taxable. Depending on filing status and adjusted gross income,… Read more